Top Ten Reasons Why Lady Liadrin is My Favorite Woman in Warcraft

August 24, 2015 Pike 1 Comment

When people talk about the women of Warcraft, they tend to go with old standbys like Jaina or Sylvanas, or new favorites like Yrel. But I rarely see Liadrin getting much attention from either Blizzard or the fanbase. And that, my friends, is a crying shame, because she is freaking amazing.

Here’s why Lady Liadrin is my #1 fave:

(WARNING: Contains serious spoilers from the novella “Blood of the Highborne.” If you haven’t read that yet, and want to be surprised when reading it, then hold off on reading this article!)

1. She survived the Scourge invasion of Quel’Thalas.

Reminder that 90% of the elven population died during this thing. Not Liadrin, a priestess at the time, who spent her time valiantly working to keep her injured allies alive even as they all fell around her. She did this almost right up until the very end, when some old friends teleported her to safety (against her will, I might add.)

2. She decided to get revenge.

Because if there’s anyone who doesn’t sit around, it’s Liadrin. Concluding pretty much immediately that it was time to take action that was more decisive than just healing (she was angry at the Light for failing her people, anyway), she strolled on up to Lor’themar about five seconds after returning to Silvermoon, grabbed a nearby club, and said “I am sure one of your men can show me how to use this.” Then she went directly to Quel’Danas to decapitate trolls and undead, without stopping to pass Go or collect $200.

3. If her people are at stake, then she wants results. Now. No matter what.

One day, Grand Magister Rommath and Magister Astalor Bloodsworn came up with a great idea: what if you could channel the Light through a weapon like paladins did, but by force? They had a pet Naaru (gifted by Kael) to practice on, so they asked Liadrin if she wanted to try it out.

She said yes pretty much immediately. Why? Because the Ghostlands was under constant siege from the remnants of the Scourge, which were still running amok due to the meddling of one Dar’khan Drathir. If channeling the Light through a Naaru was going to be their ticket to the safety of Quel’Thalas, you’d better believe Liadrin wasn’t going to turn it down.

4. She founded the Blood Knight Order and trained new Blood Knights just because she could.

Liadrin wanted the Blood Knights to be the best damn fighting force on Azeroth and, welp, if you want something done, you’d better do it yourself.

I don't actually know if this is Liadrin but it looks like her, so it works. — I don’t actually know if this is Liadrin but it looks like her, so it works.

5. All the Blood Knights looked up to her and respected her immensely…

…including Mehlar Dawnblade, who had previously been a paladin (of the Silver Hand) and had trained under Uther the Lightbringer him-fecking-self. And he still answered to Liadrin because, like, you don’t NOT answer to Liadrin. She is that good at what she does, and has that forceful of a personality.

6. She will never turn her back on a friend.

Unless that friend happens to be Dar’khan, in which case screw him for being the biggest traitor in the elves’ long and storied history.

…but that aside, one of Liadrin’s longtime friends was a fellow priest named Galell. After the fall of the Sunwell his condition quickly deteriorated and before long he was giving in to his addictions and eventually became Wretched. But Liadrin never gave up on trying to save him and was even there in his few last moments, right up until she was forced to kill him in self-defense. After that she held his lifeless body and cried for hours, because she had failed him.

True. Friendship.

Blood_of_the_Highborne — Clockwise from top: Dar’khan (disgusting traitor!), Galell, Liadrin, and Lor’themar

7. She will change her opinion based on facts, without hesitation

One of my very favorite things about Liadrin is that if someone, or something, successfully changes her mind on something she doesn’t let pride get in the way of her opinion – she immediately adapts her position.

She turned away from the Light with no qualms when she felt it had failed her home.

She turned away from Kael’thas with no qualms when she realized what he was really doing.

She joined the Shattered Sun Offensive after talking to A’dal for like thirty seconds, and she even changes her tabard, in an in-game event, to reflect this.

And once the Sunwell was restored, she wholeheartedly opted to embrace the Light again.

Wishy washy? Heck no, just damn intelligent. Intelligent enough to know that sometimes things change, and you just gotta go with it. As she has said frequently: “Times change. People change.”

8. Basically if she decides she doesn’t like you, it’s game over for you

Liadrin has a really strong sense of justice. You know why she’s in Warlords of Draenor? Because “Liadrin is sickened by the depravity of the Iron Horde and aims to wipe them off the face of Draenor.” Like, that’s her reason. The Iron Horde is terrible and once Liadrin got wind of this she marched off to a distant world to feckin’ dispose of them herself. This is what I love about Liadrin. No nonsense, no messing around.

9. She wields Quel’Delar

Check it out:

Quel’Delar, for the record, was the sword of the katana used by Thalorien Dawnseeker to make a last stand against Arthas on Quel’Danas. Liadrin’s got it now because come on, is anyone else going to make better use of it? (The answer is no.)

10. Liadrin and Yrel are totally girlfriends.

…okay, maybe not. (But they so are.)

Guess where THYE'RE goin'? — Guess where THEY’RE goin’?

So yeah. Long story short Liadrin is 100000% my favorite Warcraft lady. She’s smart, she’s strong, she takes no BS from anyone or anything, and I’m REALLY EXCITED THAT SHE’S GOING TO BE IN THE PALADIN HALL IN LEGION, I’M SO GLAD THAT I’M LEVELING A PALADIN SDK578A;LFGKHAS;DG

Lady Liadrin! <3

(For more of Pike fangirling about elves, be sure to read Top Ten Reasons Why Lor’themar Theron is the Best Leader and Let’s Talk About Felo’melorn For Two Minutes.)

good games that are good, non-wow

Good Games That Are Good: Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri

August 23, 2015 Pike 3 Comments

This is it. This is my favorite game of all time. And I say this when games like Morrowind exist.

SMAC does a lot of things right. The hard science fiction setting, for example, which contains some of the richest concepts and most masterful writing since Asimov first graced us with his presence. SMAC is also an updated version of Civilization II, which is already one of the greatest 4X games of all time, so throwing in a rich, unforgettable science fiction setting really just catapulted an already great game even higher on the list of great games but not passing the popularity of the www.slotsbaby.com games.

But here’s how I fell in love with SMAC.

I fell in love with SMAC because one day I built something called a Planet Buster. I had no idea what it did. Some kind of nuke, it looked like. So I shrugged and tossed it on the faction I was currently fighting. I figured it would set her back a bit.

(It was Miriam, which should surprise exactly no one who has played this game before.)

The next thing I knew the majority of her extensive base was gone. Replaced by water.

Planet Busters, it turns out, are aptly named, because they destroy the planet.

Planet Busters are also a Big Deal and people get mad at you if you use them.

The Planet is not happy, either, for more than one reason. Firstly because Planet Busters also cause global warming. And secondly because Planet is sentient (Uh oh.)

So suddenly, just because of some off-handed decision, I was fighting off multiple factions, fighting off the the native life of the planet itself, desperately trying to keep my base afloat as the ocean slowly continued to rise, and ever reaching towards my end goal, which was to merge with Planet itself and become an immortal transhuman god.

All this, and brilliant technology quotes, too!

That’s when I realized that this was it. I was playing the greatest game at cozino.com that had ever been made, simply because I didn’t see how any other game could replicate what I was feeling. I was experiencing the greatest gaming experience I’d ever be able to have. It was perfection.

To this day I’ve yet to experience something in games that felt like that. No other game has been so tense, has wrapped me up in its story (an honest to god story in a 4X!) so tightly, as Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. Maybe someday I’ll run across a game that can pull it off, and you know, that would be awesome. But until then, it’s okay, because every time I play SMAC it enthralls me yet again.

And that’s true video game magic right there.

(You can, and should, buy SMAC on GOG.)

meta-wow

I think it might be about time to cruise control through WoW for a while

August 22, 2015 Pike 2 Comments

Well, Warlords of Draenor certainly kept my attention longer than any expansion has since Wrath of the Lich King, but because I’m not really raiding (due to my work schedule) and because I’ve almost gotten everything I want out of Tanaan dailies, it might be about time to scale back on this game for a bit.

I won’t be quitting – not yet, at least. I mean, I have WoW tokens lasting at least through the next three months. But I don’t really see myself doing anything particularly new and exciting in the near future. That may change, of course. But for now, I’m content with laying low until Legion comes out.

Meanwhile, there are other video games to play! I’m considering looking into FFXIV. Or I can just jump right back into my Steam backlog. Since I’ve still got, you know, like 300 more games to go.

non-wow

Want to heal a raid from your toilet? There’s an app for that.

August 21, 2015 Pike

Earlier today a phone game called Little Healer made the rounds on Twitter. This game is exactly what it says on the tin: you are a priest with suspiciously familiar priest spells, and you get to heal a raid through suspiciously familiar raid mechanics.

It’s fun. And surprisingly difficult. And, come on, you know it’s a legitimate simulation of healing when one of the reviews says it’s really just an upgraded version of Whack-a-Mole. (Because come on, that’s what healing is.)

Anyways, you can get it for Apple and Android, and be prepared to pour more time into it than you expect. Oh, as a final note: there are bugs present, but the developer seems to be actively chasing these down (at least he is on the game’s official subreddit), so hopefully these get fixed soon.

super serious search studies, thoughts

Super Serious Search Studies: “TBC or Wrath”

August 20, 2015 Pike 2 Comments

Recently someone got to my blog via the search term “TBC or Wrath.” As it turns out, these are the two expansions I played the most, and they are also perennial fan favorites. The really interesting thing about these two expansions is that they kind of straddle a paradigm shift in the game. Let me explain:

Although at the time Burning Crusade was seen as a huge quality of life leap over vanilla World of Warcraft, looking back on it now, it was still very, well… vanilla. Lest you forgot, here are some of the attributes of TBC:

A 1-60 leveling nerf did not happen until at least halfway through the life of the expansion. To compare, it’s now fairly standard to get a nerf to experience rates through previous content with the release of a new expansion.
Mounts, mini pets, and so on were carried in your bag (or your bank).
Attunements. Attuments everywhere. At least at the beginning.
60 minute long hearthstone cooldown.
You didn’t get your first mount until level 40 (a patch at the very end of TBC did reduce this down to 30.)
Not only was it normal that there were certain buffs only one class could provide… but there were certain buffs only one spec could provide.
There was no dungeon finder. Finding a PuG dungeon meant sitting in the LFG channel for a long time.
There was of course no LFR and no real gear catchup mechanic aside from a little bit of badge gear so people were running the expansion’s first raid– Karazhan– until the night before WotLK’s release. Literally.

And so on. This was the most player-friendly MMO for its time, for sure, but it was still very much a retro, old-school type of experience.

Now then, we make the jump to WotLK.

As I said earlier, Wrath was very much a sort of paradigm shift for WoW. The QoL improvements were just immense. Off the top of my head, we got:

Shorter hearthstone cooldown
Mounts at level 20 and 40 (partway through the expac)
Dungeon Finder (about halfway through the expac)
Mounts and pets as spells rather than items (the bagspace, you guys!)
Buffs provided by more than one spec
Easier gear catchup for alts via a solid badge system that gave us new stuff every patch
Few to no attunements

And so forth. This was definitely an expansion that established a new zeitgeist for WoW: one that was less focused on hardcore raiding and endgame (although raiding was still huge throughout Wrath) and was more focused on a streamlined experience.

So: TBC or Wrath?

That depends on what side of the MMO coin you preferred.

To use a silly analogy, TBC was to Vanilla what Pokemon LeafGreen/FireRed were to the original Pokemon games. So if you prefer your MMOs more… unrefined, then TBC was probably the high point.

Wrath is a lot more like the newer expansions. It was streamlined. Why is it more popular, then, than basically all of the newer and even more streamlined expansions? For me, it was the atmosphere, the raids (which were very good, almost without exception,) and in the huge playerbase. WoW was everywhere back in 2009, being played by basically everyone, and it was a fertile ground for fan creations and dumb pop culture references alike. It was easy to love the game, because everyone loved it.

(I like this video because I recognize like all the gear in it)

So there you go. That’s my absurdly long, 600-word essay about Wrath and TBC.

And no I’m not gonna choose.

Okay, fine, I’ll choose TBC. Because of blood elves.

meta-blog, meta-wow, thoughts

How My Approach to My WoW Sub Has Changed Over the Years

August 19, 2015 Pike 2 Comments

I remember, many years ago, thinking that if I quit WoW it would be a big deal. It would be hanging up the hat. It would be turning around and leaving without looking back. I figured that when I quit, it would be like Forrest Gump. One day I’d think “I’ve played for three years, two months, fourteen days and sixteen hours” and then I’d stop, turn to my blog readers, and say “I’m pretty tired of playing. I think I’ll do something else now.” And that would be it.

To an extent, that’s kind of what happened. One day back in late Wrath I woke up, realized I was kind of tired of running along the raid treadmill, and I hung up my hat.

What I didn’t anticipate, however, is that I would be back running again. But this time, only bits at a time.

When I first quit WoW, I had been continuously subbed for about, oh, two and a half years, I think. Since then I have occasionally returned to WoW, but it’s never been with a subscription. For a while it was with game cards, because that way I could play for a few months and then quit for a year (or two). Now that WoW Tokens are a thing, I’m using those instead. My days of a long-lasting subscription are, I think, over. As are my days of focusing on one game for years on end. Instead, I play WoW here and there, sometimes for a few months, but rarely exclusively, and usually with frequent breaks. According to Blizzard, most people play that way now, which is supposedly one of the reasons for the great subscription number decline of ’15.

So now here I am, just paying month by month, and pretty happy about it.

What about you guys? Do you still go the subscription route?

patches

Another week, another round of…

August 18, 2015 Pike 4 Comments

There’s a saying that it takes two people to cause an accident. And more often than not, it’s, unfortunately, the case.

Bad Weather, roadworks, other drivers on their smartphones, and engine failure all affect the way you drive. What’s important is that you’re fully prepared to respond to unexpected hazards when they do appear.

Make sure you’re equipped for challenges on the road by enrolling in a defensive driving course with an accredited provider. These quick courses allow you to learn more about driving safely, so you can keep yourself and your passengers out of harm’s way, even more if you’re traveling often to places like mountains or the beach to go camping, and of course for this you can get the best camper trailers that are great for this purpose.

What’s Included in a Defensive Driving Course?

Defensive driving courses teach you skills and techniques to avoid problems on the road. They aim to give you the skills you need to make quick, safe judgments in response to unexpected hazards, so you can drive smarter and safer.

Defensive driving courses include instruction in:

Driving in difficult environments, like in a storm or heavy rain
Avoiding aggressive driving
Handling emergencies on the road
Substances and their influence on your driving ability
Predicting and avoiding hazards created by other drivers

The best courses will also recap traffic laws and procedures for your state. So they’re ideal for experienced drivers looking to refresh their driving knowledge.

Benefits of Taking a Defensive Driving Course

Training in defensive driving not only makes you safer on the road, but it can save you money too! Pretty neat if you ask us. Check out the top 5 benefits of signing onto a defensive driving course:

1.Save Money on Your Insurance Premiums

Many insurance providers offer incentives that can reduce your insurance premiums by as much as 10% when you complete a defensive driving course. In some states, this is even mandated by law! Meaning companies are legally required to offer a discount to defensive driving graduates.

For example, under Pennsylvania law, drivers over 55 are eligible for a 5% discount on their vehicle insurance if they complete a mature driver improvement course. And it’s valid for three years, meaning benefactors save on renewals too!

Such discounts result in considerable savings for many drivers, particularly teen and older drivers for whom premiums are at their absolute highest. Check with your insurance provider which courses qualify for discounts. In some states, it’s as simple as a 1-hour course online, while others require more depth.

2.Become a Safer Driver

Whether your drive your car 5 miles a day or 50, hazards are always present. But if you can anticipate those risks or spot them early on, you can minimize the risk to yourself and loved ones traveling with you.

Defensive driving courses teach drivers how to react to a variety of hazards safely. You’ll learn how to protect yourself from other drivers’ carelessness, poor visibility, and dangerous weather.

You’ll also learn techniques for managing your driving style. If you’ve ever found yourself accelerating faster than usual when you’re in a rush, you’ll know exactly how important this is.

Often our emotional state is the biggest risk to our safety on the roads. Understanding how feelings of panic, anger, and frustration affect your driving is a key step to becoming a safer driver.

Regardless of what type of driver you are, there’s always room for improvement. You can’t control what else happens on the road, but you can control how you react to it.

3.Refresh Your Driving Knowledge

Hands up if you passed your driving test and never opened the highway code again? Yep, that almost everyone then!

When you’ve been driving for a while, it’s easy to think experience alone will keep you safe. But in reality, experienced drivers are often out of touch with driving laws and regulations, which may have changed during their years on the road. Find out the best deals at these semi truck auctions.

For example, did you know that an increase in speed of less than 1 mile an hour increases your risk of a crash involving injury by 3%! Or that overtaking another vehicle within 100ft or a tunnel or bridge dramatically increases your chances of being involved in an accident? Make sure you’re up to date with the latest advice by booking a course today.

4.Dismiss Driving Tickets

In many states, defensive driving courses can help you out if you’ve been charged with a traffic offense. For example, in Texas, drivers can usually have their tickets waivered if they complete a state-approved defensive driving course. Most can even be done online, so there’s no reason not to sign on!

Defensive driving courses are also available for motorcyclists and drivers who are charged with transporting children without a secure safety seat. By taking the course most relevant to your charge, you may well find that your ticket will be dismissed. If it’s a first offense, you’ll also be spared the notification on your driving record, which prevents your insurance premium from increasing.

5.Enhanced Personal Responsibility

While most driving courses have tangible benefits, like saving money on your insurance or helping you escape tickets, the biggest skill you’ll develop is a sense of personal responsibility.

On a defensive driving course, you’ll learn that you are the only one responsible for your safety on the road.

The benefits of this mindset will extend well beyond the course. Both on the road and off it, you’ll become adept at spotting potential hazards early on and avoid getting hurt.

garrisons, screenshots

I Am Overly Attached to The Boats In My Shipyard

August 17, 2015 Pike

Yep. Overly attached. 100%. Especially the ones with matching crews/names.

Anyways, I get really antsy about sending ships I like on missions that are, like, below a 90% success rate. Because I’m attached to my ships and they might sink! And then all the little virtual people on my virtual boat will probably die! I honestly feel bad when it happens. It’s horrible. Horrible I tell you.

…it’s not just me, right?

art, fun

[Art Post] Actual Canon Lore…

August 16, 2015 Pike 3 Comments

…that happened after the Siege of Dalaran. Grand Magister Rommath got himself a popsicle, turned to Jaina and Vereesa and said…

Yup.

Sorry for the lack of actual content posts the last couple of days. I haven’t really had anything in particular to talk about. Got something for me to talk about? Lemme know!

non-wow